From a Predator's Point of View : : : on you!
by Lavenderpaw
Summary: Toothless couldn't have found more of challenge then a senseless ground bird who called himself Hiccup.
1. Night Fury meets ground bird

…

It's called natural selection. With the addition of specifics, you have many things.

These include competition for things such as food, resources, rights to living space, and most importantly --- dominance. That was why it couldn't understand when it was shot down in the midst of its nightly travels. Had they not, it and its fellow reptilian brethren, made the obvious even more so to these two-legged, wingless ground birds, or was it just that they were not capable of even the simplest logic that all other living things in the world had inside? The Night Fury struggled, in vain, in its first binds since the days of womb captivity. But it was of no use.

No amount of snarling and snapping at the bolas could break them as they were just out of its range of teeth. It wrestled around on the ground as dawn crept across the open landscape, when it was in mid-air the green floor below appeared like that of a filled canvass. It was gigantic, vast, and --- for a limited amount of time when seasonal passage permitted it--- a grand sight for it to behold. The dragon felt that it was the sole creature that would ever truly appreciate daytime.

Or, the Night Fury sympathetically thought to itself, the only who _could_ appreciate daytime.

But now as its element slipped away, now as the creature of shadows felt its only cover being removed, it felt its fighting spirit die. What was the use? It wasn't going anywhere. The Night Fury watched calmly and quite blissfully as the rays of the shining life orb gathered to their full luminosity, and sighed heavily against its bounds. It was about to lie down and accept its fate with grace and dignity when a sound from up ahead made it go on alert. The Night Fury rolled its head up and emitted a warning hiss. As the noise drew nearer, it once again began to fight.

Morning burst fully into its fiery orange-red bloom, and the Night Fury thrashed around to try and get away. If it was going to die, it was going to be with its noble, stealthy pedigree intact and not as some trophy mounted up on a ground bird's wooden nest. It was almost to some nearby bushes, it was almost in reach of some wonderful if only meager coverage, when the Night Fury heard the same footsteps made by the ground bird that had shot it down. It pulled its lips back into a flustered, toothy grimace, and crushed its head into the ground. The stupid ground bird had sounded clumsy and uneven in its steps; as if it had not been taught by its own.

The dragon, itself, had trained many yearlings in its younger days.

It shook its head slightly and laid down in wait for the inexperienced Viking to make his arrival. The noises the creature made were indistinguishable at first and then went into a full, final-like shuffle as he jumped out from behind a boulder and held out a shining talon before himself. It, the suddenly very patient Night Fury, kept stone still and awaited for the more then obviously nervous ground bird's approach. Somehow, a sort of pity was growing inside of its chest at the desperate and very dangerous lengths the ground bird was taking to capture it. But why? Could the yearling not accept its place amongst its own kind? The ground bird, the Night Fury had seen many times, was a weapons crafter. His body was just not big nor fast enough to battle.

But still the ground bird approached it, and though the Night Fury held a respect for the other ones that put up a fight against its kind, it could simply not allow such a weakling, such a meek little rebel of a ground bird to embarrass himself like this; or allow itself to be slain by such an unworthy creature. It stared up at its trembling quarry. The creature uttered words that were meant to be taken for bravery, but the Night Fury knew it could not allow this young creature to mistake courage for a coward's kill. And that's what was happening. If the ground bird were to slay the Night Fury in its defenseless state, what kind of life lesson would the Night Fury be teaching its inexperienced rival? So it stared at him; its eye piercing insanely as the blinding sun.

The ground bird looked down at it uneasily. They both stayed in an unnatural eye engagement for the longest time. Finally, though, the ground bird relented. The Night Fury eased off a little as its message seemed to come through. But just as quickly, the ground bird surprised _it _now by raising his arms in the air with the shining talon posed up and ready to strike. Recognizing that this was its own method of attack, the Night Fury closed its eye and braced for the dive bomb.

Then, even more shockingly, the stupid yearling was impulsively and frantically cutting into all of the bolas binds. The Night Fury watched in intense incoherence as the ground bird relieved it of its shackles. He was grinning nervously now, probably expecting the Night Fury to be friendly.

Angered at the child's senselessness, it struck him down against the same rock that he had hid behind and bore a reprimanding glare into the ground's bird's eyes. The small weapon now fell uselessly from his featherless appendage and hit the ground soundlessly. The Night Fury felt the rage of the ground bird's carelessness overcome it and was about to smack him across the face to teach him his lesson when the ground bird sized him up, without a hint of pleading in his jade eyes, and cringed away in preparation for his fate. The Night Fury felt itself soften a little as the ground bird turned slowly and reflected in its mellowing yellow eyes. He looked at himself just as if he were seeing himself for the first time; and the dragon realized that their roles had changed.

They were not mere predator and prey. But, more importantly, were creatures of understanding.

It gave the ground bird one final hiss and then took off in flight. There was no way; the Night Fury thought to itself, there was no way that they were the same. But looking back over its slick black shoulder, and experiencing unease, it realized that there was similarity between the two.

There was empathy.

...

To be continued...


	2. The pursuit

…

The life of a dragon isn't easy. They don't expect much, the allowance of a couple stocks here and there (as ordained by the Red Death), maybe a little compensation for their brethren being slain. They are not all that revengeful, hard as it is to believe. But the thing that really does not settle with them is being outdone by a ground bird of inferior status. The dragons live in a world where the fittest eat first and the ones with the most fight make it out alive. That was why the Night Fury continued fighting now even though it knew its chances of survival were marginal. But as it rolled and tossed across its gulley entrapment, it could not stop thinking about the previous actions of its 'inferior rival'.

Consumers (the dragons) and producers (the ground birds) overlapped each other in their own ecosystem; that was something the Night Furry had learned early on. What it had also learned early on was that greed (if not hidden) was a very quick way to have one's life ended, and so it had decided on turning rogue. Unlike its fellow scaled comrades, the Night Fury was intelligent enough to steer clear the instinctive homing device sent out by the Red Death. It had mated here and there with other females that existed scarcely, swearing off the food chain by taking to nightly 'fly fishing'.

The other dragons never seemed to mind --- and weren't smart enough to care.

The dragons were native to the island chains that ran their course across the huge ocean, and had once been the key stone species in their domain. Though densely populated, they had by all means been dominant as far as being the most capable in survival. But at one time, Night Furies had ruled the skies by the thousands, keeping everything and everyone in their place as the guards and sky keepers of the mother of all dragons. However, once the ground birds had traveled across the sea to take up their place of residence; and brought their own animals also; dragons and the creatures that had resided under their careful watch had never been the same.

So why, the Night Fury rolled and tossed the deep gully's soil, why had the ground bird from the day before spared its life? It edged over to a collection of rocks and hobbled up them with pain cording from its tender tail bone all the way up to its thick, aching vertebrae. The Night Fury let out spurts of growl cries as it pulled its aching body up and lay out to try and sun bathe away its inward burns and aches to escape. The warmth seeped into the dragon's tough skin and slowly sank into its cool blood that only relatively rose in pathetic excuses for surges; as its dry nostrils flared and its parched tongue reached up to wet it, the dragon took this opportunity to examine its tail.

It… lacked one of its fin rudders.

The Night Fury gasped in shock. Its tail was only half there --- it, the dragon, the sorcerer of the soar, the wizard of the winds, the avatar of aviator pursuits --- was now a ground bird itself. It lifted the long black point up to its still stunned yellow-green eyes and winced in despair. The appendage fell limply to the ground with a large thud. For a while the Night Fury lay there with the memories of its wild life passing in and out of its mind like the rush of waves crashing upon shores it knew it was destined to live on for the rest of its life. Finally, though, it wept. It tearlessly wept a thin, throat-choking weeping.

Its silent sobs were unheard and the Night Fury suddenly hated to be alone. But had it not brought this fate upon itself? The dragon was a recluse and a trainer to only those exclusive few who showed signs of possible progress. What did the Night Fury have but what it had secured for itself? A long, lonely and painful demise was in reality its fate. If the other dragons found it, they would mock it and if ground birds found it… it breathed.

The feeling of fresh air from the nearby lake helped soothe it. If only it had the strength to get a drink --- at this thought, the Night Fury licked its chapped ebony lips, smirking a little at the corners of its large mouth. What it would not give for the motivation to try and survive. Maybe if the Night Fury had something to _live _for, maybe if it had a reason.

'Give me a purpose'. It willed in its own lingual thoughts.

There was suddenly a familiar shuffle of feet.

The Night Fury lifted its head and heard the sounds of the ground bird approach. Giving a snarl at the intrusion and the very probable onset of humiliation, the Night Fury forgot its painful condition and began gliding around the gulley. It made furious, thrashing tries to get away from the terrible, skinny little creature. How much more pain could it cause?

Damn that ground bird!

…


	3. Catch of the day

…

A common misconception in ground birds is that they are the top consumers, where as dragons are thieves. No, in actuality the dragons (well, most) were at the top of the food chain. When they stole (the majority that did), they were only rightfully taking all of the contraband and whisking them off to be given to a greater cause --- trying to save their own lives. The tribal community the ground birds inhabited had fished out the dragon's supplies to near extinction at one point until parts of the ocean were sectioned off; and a great portion of their wildlife had vanished as well as their different abiotic resources.

The Night Fury crouched down along the moss covered rocks and surveyed the ground bird like it had before; the scrawny creature was vulnerable and the Night Fury could easily pick him off --- as he, the ground bird _himself, _could have easily picked off what many of his other kind did on a regular basis. The question remaining: why hadn't he?

Suddenly, the ground bird took notice. His green eyes flashed onto the Night Fury in stunned terror. _So…_ he was just as taken with the dragon as the dragon was with him. Curiously, the Night Fury forgot its aching and alit down to the top soil, keeping a steady-eyed gaze with the ground bird as it patrolled the gully grounds in deliberate side-steps. Finally, it came to a stop and made full eye-contact with the nervous creature. The Night Fury let its head tilt back as the ground bird opened a skin flap and showed it the dismembered talon. It balked back and issued a warning growl to him. He had come to finish the job!

'Try'. The Night Fury thought, seething, remembering so many of its kind lost. 'Just try'.

The ground bird, forever full of surprises, slipped the talon out of its skin flap, held it out for one momentary suspension in time --- and dropped it. He then performed an artful, amusing little trick by tipping the talon up onto its base end and kicking it delicately off into a nearby pool of water. The Night Fury met his gaze again, but without amusement.

It gave the ground bird time to pull out a traveling nest and cocked its head with quaint simplicity as he then emptied out a spill of untainted mackerel. Things seemed to it to be moving along more in the favor of peace when it suddenly spotted a bright flash of yellow and black. _Hiss! _The ground bird shouted out apologies and started stuffing the eel back in but grimaced at its electricity and instead tossed it back into the water. The Night Fury eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he had been watching it before when it had been fishing to itself. But the ground bird tried once again now to hand out a peace offering. The Night Fury backed away a bit as he tried apprehensively with only one fish.

What did the ground bird expect?

There came a low, deep growl --- from a point other then the Night Fury's mouth.

'Oh.'

The Night Fury leaned over and smelled the fish. Its stomach craved, its tail throbbed in pain that it had never experienced, but, to accept this offer… the ground bird then made a comment it knew involved its teeth. Deftly, without anymore need for convincing, the Night Fury unsheathed two rows of dagger-like teeth and slurped up the fish greedily in plain view of the ground bird. Now, in pleasant gratitude, the dragon hacked up half of it for the probably famished ground bird; no wonder he was so scrawny, he dined on eels!

The clueless yearling looked down and back up at it. Patiently, the Night Fury fell on its rump and the ground bird copied it. They looked up and down continuously. And then ---miraculously --- it dawned on the ground bird. He picked up the fish in his hands and let his eyes travel down to its slippery surface. The Night Fury slurped its tongue in and out to demonstrate that it was good to eat. Was the creature so disliked by its own kind that it was reduced not only to machine-making but the sole gather of food as well? A surge of sympathy welled in the Night Fury's mostly spacey heart as the yearling took a rather large chomp. The poor creature, the way he ate… he had probably never eaten decently.

It watched casually as the ground bird took brave first bites of his only real meal, before he let down a big gulp and finished off with thump to his chest. _Burp. _The Night Fury let him swallow it down completely before giving one more tongue slurp for good measure.

The ground bird looked up at it --- and smiled. 'What?' It was only returning the favor of its captor's release! Why was the ground bird approaching it? Why ---? He reached out.

The Night Fury hissed and glided off on its own, fuming. Did the ground bird not have a mother to watch after it!? Against its better judgment, the Night Fury looked back at the ground bird. He watched after it wistfully, causing the Night Fury to jerk its head around stubbornly and face forward. Against its worse desires, it too felt the need to turn back.

…


	4. Student's pet

…

Dragons didn't really have a source of identity. They were like gears to a clock, present only to serve for a single purpose --- the proper functioning of Father Time. Since the Night Fury had chosen a life as a rogue, it had also chosen a life without anything that really resembled anything outside of personal achievement. There was no one around to comfort it if it got lonely; there was no one beside it to encourage it to keep going if there ever so happened to be a sign of downheartedness. The _Night Fury_ had to do it all.

And it was very proud of that. So why slow down? It had all the time in the world!

It recalled yesterday though. The Night Fury had come back to the ground bird when it could have just kept away. But the yearling had had its back turned to it. Ever curious, the dragon had ventured up to him. With a hand to his cheek, it'd watched the puzzling ground bird sketch something with a stick in the dirt. The Night Fury had watched 'him' more closely and the way his head fell forward; the way he slumped over; the way lids fell in suppressed longing --- but for what? What had the ground bird wanted so much?

That was when 'Toothless' had decided to take it upon itself to instruct the creature.

'Toothless' The Night Fury thought with a disgruntled shake of its circular head. It was a word the dragon had never heard before, but was more then obviously able to associate with a lack of ever-present incisors. It was actually glad that it had surprised the ground bird for once; given that the gangly little yearling was full of more surprises the dragon had ever seen another creature manage in its life. That was why it awaited, with a hope for more fishes and surprises, the ground bird's return. This occurred the very next day.

'Hiccup', as he called himself, showed up with a sheepish grin and another woven nest full of fish. The Night Fury licked its cracked lips and swooshed its still off-and-on again painful tail from side-to-side. Honestly, the ground bird could have jabbered on with his sometimes irritating language all he wanted, right now the fish were the only thing that 'Toothless' cared about. Accepting the pet name, Toothless went in for its brine-stinking brunch. It heard more indistinct words circulating around its head as it shamelessly and hastily went to work at gobbling down the fish. 'Eat fish', it thought willfully, 'By Gods!'

Why was the ground bird still talking!?

Then… there was silence. The Night Fury raised its head and the lightweight nest fell off its snout. It fanged up and turned its mustard eyes over to see that Hiccup was fastening some kind of machinery to its tail. Enraged to be considered just another tool for the itty bitty ground bird, the Night Fury released a loud screech and hailed up into the air to try and get rid of the wingless pest. It bobbed up and down in the air as it tried angling its larger wings up and its lower, smaller ones down. As altitude was being reached, it now began reaching levels of excitement. Maybe the ground bird was of use after all! '_Yes!'_

Just as the dragon was about to peak at a stable enough altitude to really take flight, the pull of gravity yanked it out of mid-air. It cried, it yelled, and it cried again. Hiccup cried out as well, but the Night Fury agitatedly ignored him as he fell off in a slat towards the opposite end of the pool. 'Toothless', who was still in debt to this 'Hiccup', almost glided back and around to catch him for a safer landing but he emerged on his side bopping up and down with an excited holler. From its end, the Night Fury only glared at him sourly.

The yearling kept rooting until the undulating water brought him to a halt and he finally had a chance to see how Toothless was feeling. It wanted to be angry, a part of it didn't want to be experiencing what it was experiencing, but seeing as Hiccup was really going to be the only way for it to fly --- and knowing that it was the only real hope the ground bird had of finding himself--- the Night Fury allowed 'himself' to smile. Hiccup was okay.

…

**A/N: **Sorry the chapters are kind of short, but I'll keep updating frequently.


	5. Whose gone native?

…

The Night Fury tried his best at flying around the gulley with the contraption tied to his tail, but always he would fall sideways, and always he would feel like driving his cranium into sediment. He resigned himself to slurping down hidden fish and improving upon tactical obstacle courses drawn into the shiftier soil. The ground bird would be pleased with this improvement and that was when he would _really _be interested in doing things the Night Fury's way. Proudly, Toothless curled up into a large black heap and waited with a gentle purr until Hiccup finally came with ---

"It's a saddle." He grinned coaxingly.

The dragon unfurled himself and stood up, when the ground bird tried approaching him with it he let out a warning snarl. How dare he try to secure another fastening machine on him! They spent the next few minutes rushing back and forth. Toothless fell exhausted against the ground, his earlier flights expending what was left of his energy. Hiccup came up to him wearing a very dumb-looking concerned look, the dragon decided. He snorted and looked the other way. What other choice did he have!? Toothless waited for it to go on --- but didn't feel anything slide across. He moved his eyes questioningly to the ground bird who he saw waiting for him . The dragon smiled, and willfully rose to his feet. Hiccup's own smile reflected in his eye.

…

In the days that followed they grew more accustomed to each other. The boy never said that many words to the dragon, but instead worked to come up with more workable pieces which he could maneuver while riding atop Toothless. He would, himself, have preferred the crazier method of going bare back but that wouldn't have been fair for the ground bird that was hard at work trying to allow the dragon to fly again. The three-hundred muscles located on the back of the dragon's endoskeleton throbbed with the tensed pain of not being properly worked out.

Hiccup eventually noticed this and one day came up to Toothless with an idea. "Ready?"

'Ready?' It declared in its mind. 'Ready for what?'

After a few days of at the time fun but now seemingly useless tasks, chasing a light, finding a patch of ground snuff, the dragon was starting to doubt that the ground bird was actually here to help 'him'. But there was something incredibly promising to his smile, and remembering the fact that there was still time to teach Hiccup the rules of air travel, allowed himself to be led on up to a hill. Hiccup kept talking (fast) as he went to work at plugging a stake securely into a section of ground. Toothless took that time to raise his head as the air began speeding and strong Berk gulfs lightly picked up his wings, he looked up quizzically at the now mounting yearling.

"Let's give some flight simulation a try, bud."

Toothless felt another grand gulf of air push against him, thrusting his svelte diaphragm into the embracing winds. He felt Hiccups hands grab for his neck and looked up to again witness a great excitement filling the boy's otherwise sad or longing features. The dragon breathed in and gave a great effort to stay adrift up in the air. His big black wings rose straight out --- from tip-to-tip.

…

Things like good nutrition were important to Night Furies, who ate plenty of raw fish to build up immunity to different diseases. Plenty of fresh fruit, the occasional crop raids and theft of breads supplemented the kinds of vitamins and minerals that kept a dragon's pelt shiny and healthy. It was something Toothless had learned through his life and constant observance. So following a small ground bird into Viking territory for whatever reason was only more of a close encounter with a place Toothless was already familiar with. He was happy now after several weeks spent with the ground-err-Viking, and had gotten a 'wing-up' in both learning how to fly again with an artificial vane; and having his first real friend. He shook his tough hide now as he walked along the outside of a hut, then into a building. Curiously, Toothless ventured inside to take in a wall-to-wall excursion of fishy delight. That was when a noise rustling from behind caught his attention.

'Hiccup?'

The shuffling of the feet moving forward was foreign.

"Hiccup?" It was the voice of a different ground bird. A much more confident, possibly imposing one.

…


	6. The triple date

…

Hormones is something that is very important in dragons, estrogen is very useful as far as mothering goes, but the sperm development in a dragon next to sheer endurance was the foundation of a long, productive life. For a Night Fury; it was everything. To locate, procure and hold a mate steady for a male Night Fury in any region was nearly impossible. Toothless knew this very well. That was why he felt especially suspicious of the ground bird approaching.

She had been the one to sneak up on him, and now she had followed him and Hiccup back to 'their' hideaway. He sent her a blistering glare, only a few inches from blasting her but found himself ill-disposed from doing so by the touch of his own ground bird. He growled very softly as she tried reaching out and touching him, his teeth retracted into his gums and his circular-ringed throat heated in preparation as Hiccup gave cautious introductions. Astrid was close ---

"_RAWR!"_

She reeled back.

"Bad, Toothless!" His ground bird scolded.

The dragon shot him a reprimanding look of his own. 'Don't test me, Hiccup…' and relented, 'I'm good.'

Astrid frowned distrustfully at the dragon and took off.

She went barreling through the forest to try and get back to Berk when the pair swooped in and snatched her right off the ground. The Night Fury sneered a little as he indelicately let her off on a tree branch, and Hiccup looked down at her in need. Toothless sighed quietly at all of his attempts to try and convince her not to go back. Finally, the ground bird reached down for the female one. 'What!?' Toothless exploded in his mind. 'I didn't agree to let her get on me!'

He wrinkled his scaly sable muzzle.

"It's okay." Hiccup reassured her as he helped her on and she smacked at his hand.

'Okay…?' Toothless thought calculatingly. 'I'll show you _okay_'.

Two and a half weeks with the ground bird and he now understood the basics of his language. What he would not tolerate --- and could not ever accept, was someone intruding on what was _his. _Hiccup then gently patted his neck side and instructed him to go easily. Astrid touched his sides, causing the dragon to peel back his wide mouth and take off into an upward thrust. Hiccup squawked, his little paramour screeched and once Toothless saw her arms go around his waist completely, his eyes bugged and he openly roared his detested nature and took both riders on a whirlwind of a trip. Hiccup glared down at him, peeved, saying something sardonic.

Whatever it was, Toothless slapped him on the wrist anyway.

'I'm not the one who brought her along.'

The dragon then remembered how lonesome and longing Hiccup had appeared day two of the time they had spent together. He felt the awful sting of guilt, recalling how the boy had worked very hard at rigging the device that let him fly again. He measured his breaths now as he rose up slowly into the white, cloud-walled sky.

Hiccup looked down at him perplexedly as he made his way up more, his soft deep blue eyes trying to figure out what he was planning. The dragon climbed many rungs of the invisible ladder he knew would lead him to a sensory maze that he would normally avoid. But this was the only way, it was the only way to pay his debt to Hiccup and it was the only way to stop Astrid from revealing their friendship. He smiled up at the two.

They were lost in a world of their own.

…

To be continued…

**A/N: **It gets kind of emotional after this. I'm looking forward to writing the upcoming chapters.


	7. A rebel without jaws: finale : Pt 1 of 3

**I. **

It is in a dragon's nature to protect what they consider theirs; this ranges from food, a potential mate and _especially_ themselves. In any given situation, a dragon might have to hide, defend or camouflage themselves from danger. This usually depended on their color. A red dragon would find red clay or rock to blend in with, a green dragon chose plants and blue ones would stay down in the water. The Night Fury was no exception. As Toothless drifted into the smoldering fog, he felt a sense of relief sweep over him for the dark cover. It had been a mistake on his part to go up so high when he knew the Red Death was signaling for him, and he tried to move away.

"Toothless…" Hiccup spoke unsurely. Both ground birds started speaking then at once.

The Night Fury fought with the urge to continue on. This had been a mistake! But the sight of the two-headed dragon made him resign himself to going along with his instinct, he remembered the last dragon that had tried to break away from the signal --- they had been squealed on and had had to pay the ultimate price. He moaned quietly, moving on into the depths of the enormous volcano.

Molten lava boiled below in the dark grey stone slits and openings, rising up in an inviting roast of aromas to Toothless. He was now in mid-air, gawking down at the place that he had avoided most of his life yet was forever drawn to. He felt the warmth baking his cool underside, giving a pleasant heat to his partially cold-blooded scales. The lure was growing stronger and his adamant resistance weaker. All of the other dragons were dropping off their offerings, and Toothless knew that he would be devoured it he didn't provide something of his own. The very idea shocked him!

"Hey, bud, what's going on?"

He looked back sadly at Hiccup, and saw a reflection of the boy in his green-yellow eye.

"Why are they wasting all that food?"

Before Toothless could do anything more a Gronkle stalled from giving his portion.

A familiar sound rose from the depths of the volcano. The dragon used that distraction to make his getaway and go behind a curved shaft of rock walling. He heard the ground birds' awe as the Red Death's head emerged from the shadowy depths --- and it was quite a sight --- and took a large bite of the relatively small dragon. Toothless watched solemnly now as it slid back down into its underground lair, not going to growl or defy it, but just to observe.

He just hoped that Hiccup and Astrid could now understand what his life was like.

…

To be continued in part two.


	8. A rebel without jaws: finale : Pt 2 of 3

**I.**

Possession is a word used for an object. A long, though largely unproven myth is that a dragon guards hidden treasure troves of stolen goods. Apart from 'repossessing' the huge abundance of life stalk, a dragon in actuality did not need items of their own. In fact, the grand majority of dragons who existed considered 'themselves' items; merely breathing, flying creatures of servitude. There was surely nothing worth really protecting outside of themselves; surely no dragon could have a greater possession to protect apart from their own scaly hide; surely that was why a dragon was just fine with objectifying themselves to the point of calling themselves 'it.' Well, it wasn't fine for one dragon, he had more…

He had --- "Ahhhh!"

The cry brought Toothless to attention. His ears shot up and he looked around confusedly at the noise. Sensing trouble, however, the Night Fury rushed to the cliff side of the gully and thrust his large black bulk up the jagged wall. Gravity thwarted him and he fell down hard back into its sinking depths. The cries grew louder, and the Night Fury suddenly was even more determined. He flung himself up and kept trying to mount the rocky sides with only his two cacti sharp sets of claws, picking himself up more and more as the sounds of Hiccup's calls for help grew more erratic and desperate. 'Hiccup!' he thought, struggling.

Finally his large paw rose up high like a great hammer being raised over one's head, and came down with great forceful descent, curbing a small rock shelf with an intent slam of energy before scaling up the rest of the rock pockets and running head-long right towards the one place he knew could destroy him just as easily and unmercifully as the enormous dragon. Hiccup kept calling out in panic when Toothless suddenly arrived to intervene in between him and a self-combusting dragon. The ground birds gasped and exclaimed out at what was happening, which was to be expected, but they were not worth fretting over.

The red-translucent dragon tried fighting off the Night Fury, but to no avail.

"Toothless!"

He then turned back towards Hiccup, and saw the frightened boy reflect in his fierce eye.

That's when he realized --- he was actually just as scared of being taken as he was. But as the lead Viking yelled out a command and raced into the enclosed arena to try and restore order, the Night Fury's opponent started acting up again and was poised and ready then to go right back to threatening Hiccup. He reacted fast, looking for a division and went after the ground bird leader. The bearded Viking raised a fist to strike Toothless and he in turn opened his mouth to dig his razor-sharp teeth into his arm when Hiccup protested to this.

'Buy why?' Toothless looked at him, confused and scared. So helplessness felt like this.

The dragon was instantly taken into possession. He struggled and thrashed just as a now restrained Hiccup was. They fought to get to one another, but hands, and ropes, and other means of confinement were used against the fighting pair. The last thing Toothless saw as he was being held down and secured was Hiccup being picked up and taken away as if he were just an item that had become defective. At this realization, the dragon sunk down in defeat. Just then the appearance of Astrid's concerned face made him rise up on his feet; if just to keep himself from slipping any further. When he peered up, she was giving him a look. It was as if she couldn't believe that the dragon was going to be outdone so easily. And she was right. The Night Fury would try to keep possession of himself for the time.

That was, until he could take repossession of his friend.

...

**A/N: **Really, he's a rebel without jaws! :O


	9. A rebel without jaws: finale : Pt 3 of 3

-The Ending; the Prologue-

* * *

The feeling of motherhood is indescribable. It's something that one can only experience when one's time comes, and Toothless was sure he'd never understand. He had not ever known a female dragon other then the one who had birthed him 'personally' and so he'd never been on the giving end of the connection. It was in a male dragon's genes to have nothing to do with the rearing of a child, and so the parental attachment that most female dragons possessed simply did not apply to them: But that process was to rapidly change.

…

As the roasting flames roared around them, Hiccup tried his best to free the Night Fury. The masts of the boats were falling down around them, and he only had so much time to get Toothless out before things really heat up – like them. He tried to throw the chains to the side and the head collar but they both knew that he just was not strong enough to do it. Hiccup looked right into Toothless's eyes as the ship keeled over sideways as if he had failed.

'No.' The dragon thought as they both fell downwards. 'No, don't believe that'.

…

The next series of events happened before either of them could really think it through; it was though impulse had sliced through Toothless's and Hiccup's psyche. When water in all of its swirling depths surrounded the dragon, and he found his lungs tightening close to his chest - a presence before him caused him to open his blurry eyes. The lead Viking was in front of him, giving the winged reptile a reluctant yet speculating look. Toothless stared right back into his eyes; the large man reached out and ripped the harness off him.

In one good breach to the surface, the dragon hauled the man to the rocky shore and let loose his hold on him. He beamed briefly at a soaked Hiccup before landing beside him in a swift glide and getting ready to disembark into the air. Before they could take wing, the sopping wet Viking came over to them and laid a burly hand on Hiccup's non-burly arm. Toothless almost growled but kept his feelings to himself as he watched them both share a moment together. The way they both looked at one another and the look that the man had given him – it was one and the same. Toothless understood it completely now.

…

There was a crash, it hit so hard that it knocked them both in separate directions. Hiccup was there one moment and gone the next. The frightened Toothless searched from the top to the bottom of his shiny sable scales and couldn't find a trace of him. But it was then in that moment that he realized something – and it was something that he knew now that he would always be for as long as he lived – a ground bird. He twisted about and dove down.

The moments passed by faster and faster, but still Hiccup seemed to fall steeper and even deeper into an invisible canyon that formed from the smoky fog. He looked up weakly at the dragon falling face first as the thick film of semi-transparent slate grey covered _him _up.

…

- Hiccup's POV; narrative first person-

As I looked up from my long fall backwards, I could see Toothless's face pressing down through the rising smoke fumes. He didn't even seem to notice that he was falling as well as he kept pushing down in an attempt to get to me. I raised my hand up in need, wanting just to touch his slick black pelt one more time, just wanting to grab a hold of my would-be dragon savior. Of course, what do you expect when you treat your first and few friends as if they didn't matter? I tried to get to him - but it was too late for that, _it was too late…_

…

Seconds seemed to stretch into hours as the Night Fury witnessed Hiccup glance over his shoulder; grimace at the flames that reflected into his ocean blue eyes and then close them in preparation for his grizzly fate. In a sequence of steady, pounding heart beats, the dragon swerved to the far side of the smog. He petered around the silhouette of the enormous Red Death collapsing through the thick ash which threatened to suffocate his lungs as it now pierced his thin nostrils and stung the limited oxygen he had left. But still Toothless dove headlong for Hiccup in a scaling arch, ignoring the fact that his own fate was in jeopardy.

Time now stood still for the dragon as he finally came upon a resigned Hiccup. Toothless aligned his body with the still plummeting adolescent's and then slipped right behind him.

Gently, the Night Fury coaxed his thick forearms under Hiccup's skinny ones and sealed him close to his chest with his leathery wings draped around Hiccup's back. The realized Viking looked down from his position and smiled up at his reptilian friend, he closed his eyes and Toothless nudged Hiccup's cheek with his nose. With the entirety of their fate set before them, the Night Fury glared down intensely at the flames that sprung in leaps and bounds over the mustard-colored orb of his eye. He bared his thorny teeth and shut both of his eyes with Hiccup hugged close to his stomach – just as his own mother had.

The next time Toothless released him it would only be to the right person.

…

- Hiccup's narrative- POV-

My eyelids fluttered open and my head felt dizzied, but when I looked up I could see that we had survived. After all of the amazement and adventure – and my own frantic rants of disbelief – we had survived the massive final battle. But the war, I was to find out, was only on the horizon. For although we were given several new vanes – one with a long, jagged thunder bolt on it that I found particularly cool – it was only the beginning of our journey.

The End.

**A/N: **What? That's _it_! Who does the writer think she is – the writer or something? How dare she end the piece she's only been working on for three months, darn it. Well, if you guys out there liked it then I'm happy to announce that my new HTTYD story with the for now working title (Lark of the Thunder Angels) will be out sometime in late July to early August or whenever I hopefully can get around to it. Thanks for the reviews guys!

~ Lavenderpaw ~


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